La Penitente
by Sundown Monsoon
Summary: Long after her time training as a huntress in Beacon Academy, Yang comes across the gory remains of a mangled Ursa grimm, desecrated and strewn around the wilderness while on a scouting mission. Disturbed by the prospect of something being out there that was able to cause such a scene she pursues the trail of blood, only to find something she'd long since forgotten about.
1. Chapter 1

Yang stood and stared, almost in awe, at the bloody remains of a grimm that had been violently murdered. Even though she hunted these creatures on a daily basis, this felt like a murder, rather than a real battle or a fight for self defence – it looked like it never stood a chance.

She surveyed her surroundings further. The forest was mostly quiet, as if this brutal scene had scared everything off entirely. She would have expected that some scavengers might have come to feast on the carrion, at least. The lifeless, grey sky set a grim tone to the day, mirroring Yang's face, completely devoid of any humour at all.

Her stomach turned when she spotted the grimm's missing head, impaled upon the sharp, splintered summit of a shattered tree. Most of the bark had turned black has the creature's blood had mostly likely had a good few hours to ooze down the trunk. Other than the grisly spectacle in front of here, there wasn't much else that spoke to her.

She turned away, keeping an eye on her surroundings. Her heart began to race as she considered what could have done this, what would go to such brutality – and if it was nearby, willing to do the same to her. With her size, whatever it was could make a much more detailed picture with her entrails, no doubt. In her paranoid state however, she finally caught a hint of something – it was faint, but the blood seemed to trail on ahead, faint patches of black bile on the shrubbery beneath her feet.

She sighed and armed her gauntlets, Ember Celica, and began to follow the trail. This was just asking for trouble, that much she knew, but at the end of the day it was her job. Ever since she'd come to Beacon those few years back, Yang knew that a mission like this would come, when the world churned up something bigger and badder to face her.

It was times like these that she wished she were back with her team once again. Even with the villains of old out of the picture, the threat of the grimm remained ever-present, and now there was something, or someone, that could literally wipe the floor with an Ursa with ease.

The blood trail thinned out the further she went, before it disappeared entirely. By now, she'd been led up towards the hillside and the treeline had grown sparse. There didn't seem to be any grimm around at all; She wouldn't be surprised if they all avoided this area entirely after that mess.

The ground grew increasingly elevated, and now the lack of vegetation beneath a miserable, cloudy sky made her feel all the more isolated. Of course, a chill settled in as she felt a tiny dot of water later on her arm, followed by a sudden rush of rain, just to make it worse.

She increased her pace, keen eyes catching the most subtle hints of black blood staining the ground at disparate distances. With the rain settling in, Yang was ready to just rush back to the city and stay out of it, and get some advice on what to do. Yet, she couldn't turn back now, the trail was dying out and eventually, surely, she'd find an end to it, at least that's what she hoped.

The weather was starting to grow less hospitable the longer she stayed out, and it was getting dark. "Shit." She grumbled to herself, realizing that she'd been out here in the ass end of nowhere for far longer than she'd expected. She was definitely about to turn back, before a small dwelling came into view, as she peered beyond a small cliff. It was nestled comfortably away, almost out of view from the direction Yang approached it from. A generator sat outside, letting out a very low hum, and there was a faint hint of light shining from inside.

Wary of slipping, Yang found herself a way down, taking tentative steps as she descended down the edge of the small cliff. She spotted an old, run-down motorbike leaning against the building, drawing a grin from her. "Poor thing, somebody's lost their love for you, huh?" A few pipes and cables connected the building to a post just outside, which descended into the ground, giving no hint as to where they left, and an aerial extended from atop the tin roof, which began to rattle as the rain grew heavier.

Desperate to get inside, she knocked on the door loudly, making sure that whoever was there would definitely hear her. "Come on...I'm soaking wet, please answer the door!"

It'd been years since Roman was locked up. She'd done her best that day, so close to dispatching one of the girls that ruined his efforts and continued to tear into all the work he'd put into Vale. If only she'd actually stabbed her right there, instead of waltzing along slowly. If only she'd pounced her and made sure she never got up, this long miserable set of circumstances would never had happened.

After things got bad enough, she exiled herself. No matter how good a fighter she was, she wasn't a leader. Logistics and ideas, sure, she could manage those. But when the rest of the organization's leadership got dealt with, one by one, she wasn't exactly the type to pick it all up, even if she'd come out unscathed, fight after fight. Was it her fault, or had she just chosen the wrong side? It was hard to tell, hindsight was unwilling to give her the answers, for once.

For the rest of her days, Neopolitan decided to spend her life alone in the grimm-infested wilderness. The regret, the guilt over the damage she'd done had settled in long since, but she was fully aware of the irony, aware of the fact that if they'd all succeeded, that regret would be buried beneath mountains of dust and wealth.

It comforted her to see the grimm as her penance. With the largest criminal organization in Vale gone, only the grimm remained as a true threat. It felt fair to make up for what she did by putting her vast ability into keeping them down. In the time she'd spent there, it turned out that they knew many of the human emotions as well. Fear was the biggest one, it was inherent in most other animals after all, and she'd learned how to exploit it.

Neo trailed her way through the hills, dripping in blood. Her old outfit, the regalia of her prime, had been torn to pieces and shredded a dozen times over the course of her stay out here, and she made do with simple clothes she'd collected on her sparse visits back to the city. Jeans, trousers, shirts and vests, nothing that displayed who she was or represented her personality. It had been such a large custom to embrace your individuality all across remnant, but what use did that have when none were around to see you put your soul on a pedestal?

She slammed the door shut behind herself, before rushing into the pitiful compartment that was her bathroom, barely large enough to hold a shower as well as a toilet. She dropped to her knees and emptied her stomach into the toilet bowl. Now that she was inside, the gore of the poor Ursa she'd spread across grimm territory was in her nose and all the more noticeable.

With watering eyes, she stripped down and set herself to the task of washing the bile out of her clothes, not willing to eat until the smell and the filth was gone down the drain. The sink had developed an ugly dark ring around the drain quite a while ago, and she was used to the edges of her nails behind black.

It would have been another silent progression – she used her television and radio sparingly to save on power, and her precious literature was beyond touch until she was entirely clean as well. Her job prevented her from even taking care of herself until it was washed away for the day. That silence however, was broken abruptly, forcing Neo's heart to practically leap out of her chest. There was no mistaking it – a loud banging amidst the rattling roof beneath the rain, the sound of her door knocking.

She stood up slowly, still in her underwear, eyes turning white. The door banged again, and a muffled, feminine voice called out behind it. She'd had visitors before, mostly for supplies, but they'd always been men. This person was new.

Neo stumbled towards the front door, taking small step by small step. For somebody who took down Ursa grimm with ease, this was the hardest thing she'd done in a long time. She reached for the handle, and opened it up.

A tall, proud woman stood in front of her, caped in a mass of brilliant blonde hair, a stark contrast to the miserable weather behind her.

"It's y-you..." She mumbled, eyes wide and white.


	2. Chapter 2

Yang looked down at the girl who had just opened the door, standing there in just her underwear. Her hair was a mess, her hands were stained black, and she was practically trembling on the spot as she looked up at her. It took her a moment to register that face, but as soon as it did, the memories came flooding back. The time she snatched Roman out of their hands as they battled his Paladin, and then Mountain Glenn, when she'd knocked her out. Then there were the countless times she fought them under Cinder instead, where she'd very nearly taken all of them out at various individual points.

The memories, the realization of the harm that girl caused, how much more she could have dealt. "YOU!" She growled, feeling her body heat up, her eyes turning red to match. She barged forward, forcing Neo to back up quickly, and raised her fists. "So this is where you've been hiding all this time!"

Neo backed herself up against the wall of her tiny abode, almost tripping over junk that was scattered around the floor. "Get away from me!" She yelled, her voice shrill and panicked. "I came out here to be left alone!"

Yang snarled, fuelled by the long buried anger she'd once stoked quite fervently. "Tell that to the people you and Torchwick hurt! They wanted to be left alone, until you came into Vale! Tell me why I shouldn't haul you back to..." Then the realization hit her – her black hands, the blood that led here, it was her, she'd savaged that Ursa. The last memory, and arguably the most important one, was of Neo's sheer skill. Yang didn't stand a chance against her the first time, and even after then, the girl was still a nightmare to face. But she had her cornered, with no room to move and she wasn't even dressed. What could she do here?

"What did you do with that Ursa? I mean, why? What was the point?"

Neo stared at her blankly for a moment, before it caught up with her. "To make a display! To keep the rest of them away from the city. The smarter ones know to stay away, and only a scene like the one I made gets through to the lower kinds."

"I don't believe you. It looks like you're just taking out your savage nature on whatever you can find to me! Since when did you care about keeping the city safe, anyway? You helped Torchwick fill that place with grimm, so why do you want to do that now?"

Neo rested her hands against the wall as she leaned back, trying to keep the distance between the wall. "For the love of god, let me put some clothes on at least, before you inquisition me!"

It took a few moments for Yang to clock on, but she eventually lowered her fists. "Alright, fine. But listen here, don't you dare try anything, I've got my eye on you, and I'm way tougher than the last time we met, so don't think you stand a chance. Get dressed, and sit down. I've got a lot of questions for you."

After disappearing around a corner, Neo returned fully dressed in a fresh set of clothes, ones which didn't really look all that different from what she'd come home in. Even some of the black stains were still there, having fully seeped into the clothes, refusing to come out. She could just see the distaste in Yang's eyes as she walked back in, but that could have just been her overall feelings towards the short girl in general. That original fear and panic that had been present in Neo was gone, she'd clearly calmed herself down in the time she'd spent getting dressed.

"Well, ask away then." Neo grumbled, returning and sitting down atop a rocking chair that sat in the corner of the room, which had a pair of pillows set against the back and on the seat, with a small blanket hanging haphazardly off the side. "The quicker we get through this, the sooner you can leave."

"Oh, don't think I'm leaving on my own. You've got to pay for what you've done." Wow, she looked far more aged sitting down on that chair, Yang thought. It wasn't going to soften her up though, she knew what Neo was capable of. "Alright, my guess is that you're here to avoid getting caught. But why the grimm filled wilderness? Surely there are some safe-houses in the city, right?"

"The grimm are the entire reason I'm here. I've come to kill them. I may not be an official huntress like yourself, but I've decided to put myself to task. To...give myself some worth." She looked down at her lap for a moment. "I, can't – no, never mind. That's why I'm here. To kill grimm."

Yang remained silent, staring at Neo as she decoded what the girl was saying. Was she genuine? She'd certainly killed a grimm, that was for sure, but was it often? Was her presence worth any value to anyone else if she kept the grimm populace down? "Where do you get your supplies? Who's supplying your water and power?"

"I'm not giving you any names, but I have a few old contacts of Roman's. They owed a few favours and I offered them the opportunity to clear them and cut off the rest of their ties to us."

"And you're just dismantling all the puppets your boss amassed while he's locked up? If he ever gets out, he's gonna be mad, isn't he?"

Neo smirked, shaking her head. "He's not coming out, let's not pretend he is. No matter his sentence, excuses are going to be made and reasons will be found to keep him in until he's too old to be dangerous. I had just as much of a stake in his networks as he did, so it was to my discretion whether to make use of them or not. It was better to cut them free from a doomed man's tether anyway, so they don't get pulled down with him."

"I can't see why you'd care." Yang tutted, folding her arms. "They're all gone, right? Everything's fallen apart, thanks to us." The amount of prestige team RWBY had earned from taking Torchwick and Cinder down was incredible, they'd practically become the city's heroes. "You don't need to dissolve your organization, remember."

"Oh, don't be so arrogant." Neo snorted, folding a leg over the other. "The organization existed for years before anyone picked up on it. It was not just a gang of bullies that couldn't be held together without a leader. It was more like...a conglomerate, and Torchwick and Cinder were just the current representatives. It's nothing compared to what it was in its prime, that's for certain, but don't think you've wiped it clean..."

"Well then, you're going to tell me where the rest of the members are, and I'm going to make sure this particular stain is gone for good." Yang growled, her demeanour growing less and less welcoming.

"No, even if I cared to, I couldn't. Names are cut off from each other. In the event that it becomes threatened like it was, the entire collection of members splits off, cuts off contact, destroys evidence, pretends they never existed. It depends on someone with Torchwick's initiative to decide whether it's prosperous enough of a situation to go out and re-build that network, person by person. Once I assured my needs were met, I erased everything I had in the way of links to my old life. The only people I know now are honest contractors who give access to basic utilities separate from the major power, gas, and water companies."

"Why go to all this effort to abandon what you've probably spent years on supporting?"

"Because I'm human, Yang. I can regret my decisions, I can decide on new paths. I'm finally living apart from Torchwick and Cinder, and able decide on my own life."

"And you've decided, after this new-found freedom, to live in one of the loneliest, most dangerous parts of Vale? I mean, this is no Mountain Glenn, but that's only because not enough people lived here to attract lots of grimm. Instead, you've just got the biggest, oldest sorts instead."

Neo stood up, with a heavy sigh forced from her throat. "Don't you understand? We're not much different, all things considered. We've been raised to kill, Yang. Unfortunately my skills were turned on people, rather than grimm. I'm the one who survived the dissolution of Torchwick's empire, I'm the one who made it through every encounter with your team, and many others."

"We're not - "

"Don't lie to yourself, Yang. It's what we are. As I said...My skill is immense." She glanced down at herself once again, as if to display the faded stains on her white blouse. "I hunt the largest grimm, Yang. I'm making up for my crimes by dealing with threats even the most experienced hunters are willing to face. The academies might not see me as one of their ranks, but in the end, I'm an asset to your kind."

Yang gritted her teeth, holding back another growl. "Well then. When the rain stops, show me what you can do."

"Even in the dead of night I can perform my role, Yang. I'll show you."


	3. Chapter 3

The rain refused to stop, and Yang was stood at a wet, dirty window looking out into...well, nothing. The light left her blind to the outside as night fell upon the hills. Neo had gone into the back of the house to continue cleaning her clothes, but eventually she came back out to check on Yang.

"Are you going to kick me out?" Yang asked, not turning away as Neo came in.

"No, I'm not. You'd probably fall and break your neck, but so would anyone in those conditions." The short girl held a pair of mugs, filled with hot chocolate. "Here, have some of this, it gets cold in here, the insulation isn't fantastic and there's no real form of heating other than the two radiators."

Finally turning, the blonde grimaced as she was forced to accept a cup. "You're being way too gracious to me. The last time I saw you we were at each other's throats, and for good reason. Plus, I said I'm taking you back with me."

"We both know you're not taking me anywhere, Yang. Even if you could beat me in a fight, I'd love to see you keep me subdued while carrying me back. I mean, there are probably ways of taking me in, but trust me, I'd make it far more difficult than it's worth." She took a seat back on her rocking chair, while sipping at her drink little by little. "And trying to take a new path means letting go of my past, which means my vendettas, too. You're no longer my enemy – not when I have no more cause to fight for."

Yang sagged as she listened to Neo. "I...can't let go of my anger, Neo. I don't know what Torchwick meant to you, but you hurt Ruby real bad. That scar never really healed. I can't promise you I won't do all I can to take you back to Beacon and put you on trial." She took a seat herself, atop a sturdy box that Neo had set a cushion atop, backed up against the wall.

"Well, of course. You've continued to lead the same life. The way you view the world is mostly the same, yes? I've lost the reasons I had to continue my conflict, but that's not enough to nullify yours. But at the same time, I'm not giving myself up to a life in prison. I can't prove my worth to the world locked behind bars." Another slow sip from her mug. "Let me lay this down in simple terms. You don't want more conflict, right? Leave me be. I'll show you what I'm capable of, whether it be on a grimm come more suitable weather, or against yourself, and anyone else who chases me down. What sounds better to you?"

"But! You can't just escape your punishment because you think you'd be better off somewhere else. I can't trust you, and you can't choose your own fate when you've done the things you have. If every criminal said 'I'd be more useful elsewhere' when they got caught, we'd have criminals still running amok, finding their very subjective usefulness put to other causes."

"Yang, I...I may be 'free', but the life I've chosen for myself is hardly one of comfort. I've a tiny home, I fight grimm to the point that my clothes turn black with blood, I have nobody to talk to, limited entertainment, and I have to ration my food because I'm in danger of being locked up anyway when I do leave to get food. But I've already made my case, Yang. I'll leave the decision to you, seeing as you know how I'll react to whatever you go for."

"I'm a little upset you're talking this out so calmly and simply, as if there wasn't a single nuance to the situation. We'll see how you deal with grimm...tomorrow, probably. It looks like that's how things are going right now." Then it hit her. "Oh, wait...where...am I going to sleep? You're letting me sleep, right?"

"Yes, yes, of course. I've got a small, compact bed that's in the back. I'd call it my bedroom but, well, this place doesn't exactly have specialized rooms, just sectioned off areas. Point is, you can have that. I've taken to fallen asleep on this chair..."

"Don't you get lonely, Neo? Living on your own like that...it'd drive me insane." Yang was sipping at her drink a little more readily now, the heat having died down enough for her not to burn her tongue.

"Terribly...perhaps that's why I'm being so hospitable right now. But, who do I have to turn to? Most girls my age are...well, they're like you, they've just come fresh out of Beacon academy, or they've got a normal, non-violent life. I suppose they'd be called women, not girls, now that I think about it."

"We coulda been friends you know, if you weren't living the life you did. We might have gone to school together, done missions and fought bad guys together. But you became the bad guy."

"I know." Neo's tone suddenly lost all sense of emotion in response. "But that's how it turned out, that's the life I grew up with."

"It's because of Torchwick, isn't it? What did he do? I'd almost think he forced you into it, if you didn't look so pleased to be doing what you did. What was he? Who was he to you?"

"He was – he is – my father, Yang."

"O-oh. I see." Well shit. And there she was, complaining about an injury Ruby had survived. This was far more awkward than it already was.

"Yes, now you understand, perhaps. He adopted me from an early age, but not early enough that I didn't remember being abandoned, orphaned. I idolized him, and that's why I followed him even into the darkest corners of the world, because he showed me how to live out of the light of a normal life."

"I should have realized – it's not like you'd just do all that for some asshole, right? Nobody has that much loyalty to an average employer."

"Yes, exactly. The sad thing is, he...told me, once, that he wanted to be a hunter growing up, too. No school would have him, though. His family was poor, he was never able to develop the skills he needed by the time he was at an acceptable age – so he found other ways of bringing affluence to his family. Of course, he turned to illegal means, which drew a lot of attention to his family." She set her mug down after a long drink, and whether she realized it or not, began to rock her chair.

"Then...he didn't tell me much else, but I've picked up bits and pieces. I was obsessed to the point of stalking when I was younger, and I found out a lot about him. I think his family was killed by grimm, while they were evading the authorities he had caused to chase them. Something makes me feel it...unhinged him. Maybe not to the point of insanity, or even something like sociopathy, but he lost his reasons to care for his actions beyond selfishness. He told me that he didn't even consider taking me in a good deed, because of the life he'd brought me into. But after that one admittance, he'd never again hinted any sort of regret."

"I never would have known, Neo...but you can probably understand, we can't let him off because of what happened."

"I know, I know, you don't need to spell the situation out for me. He got what he deserved in the end. He was intelligent enough to get a normal life, even run normal businesses, but he dragged us into this set of circumstances. I wouldn't be punishing myself like this if I didn't think it was all so wrong, no matter how long it took me to realize it."

"Punishing yourself? What happened to putting yourself to more use? Are you actually feeling guilty?" Yang scoffed, quickly forgetting herself. "I thought you were trying to escape punishment."

"I'm trying to do both, Yang. It's like community service, almost. The fact of the matter is, I let my love for him pull me into accepting him as he was, and even worse, becoming just as bad. I'll never clear what I did, but again...I'm trying to be prudent about how I spend my days, for the foreseeable future."

"I guess I'd go to extremes for Ruby as well, in the end...half of the reason I joined Beacon Academy was for her anyway, even though it meant leaving my home in patch." Once again, Yang sighed, particularly harshly this time as she realized she was sympathizing with Neo despite telling herself she'd extract her punishment. "I can't believe I'm trust you enough but, I got myself stuck into this situation. I'm gonna go get some sleep, then. We're gonna get up nice and early, alright? I don't want to linger for too long."

"You probably have people worrying about you, anyway. Well, run along. The house isn't big enough for you to lose your way. Go make yourself comfortable, I'll be here." Neo pulled the blanket over her lap, and curled up a little. She certainly looked content enough on her rocking chair.

"Yeah, thanks. I'll uh, see you in the morning." What a strange night, Yang concluded, as she wandered off, kicking off her shoes on the way.

The bed was tiny, and was clearly meant to fit into cramped spaces. Yang doubted her host had any issues with that, considering her size in general, but otherwise she slept soundly enough, having worn herself out through the day. The night was relatively peaceful, save for the clattering of rain on the roof and windows. Well, that, and the sounds of spluttering and forced coughing in the middle hours of the night and early morning, which could only have come from one person.

As soon as Yang was awake she was acutely aware of just how sore her body had grown over the night, in the cramped sleeping space she had. Something told her even prison beds were more spacious than this. She stepped out into the front of the house in her socks, instinctively searching for Neo.

Unable to find her, she looked out of the windows through which a pleasant amount of morning sunlight shone, casting the interior in a golden hue. Yang caught a smile crossing her face, as she saw what Neo was doing – She was in a pair of tall green wellies, mud up to her knees, as she shovelled dirt. Of course the blonde chided herself when she realized how big that grin was, and sorted her face out immediately.

Pulling her boots on, Yang stepped outside to get a better look. The morning air was cool and crisp, but not too chilly, and the sunshine certainly made the hillside far more welcoming than it had been last night.

"Good mornin' Neo, what are you doing up so early out here?" She asked, in a sing song tone. "You really do have a habit of getting messy, don't you?"

"Spring's on its way, Yang. If I'm going to get anything growing up here, I need to start making the soil a little more suitable. The rain left the ground a little more responsive, if a little heavy, so now's a good chance to till it and get some fertilizer laid out." She answered quickly enough, her own voice seeming quite relaxed, even if it wasn't exactly full of excitement. Neo seemed to lack much emotion in her voice, everything was said as a matter-of-fact.

"Oh really. What are you going to plant, then? What would even grow out here? Place seems pretty sparse as far as flowers and all that stuff comes."

"Well, I'll grow some potatoes on this side. They need some good fertilizer and soil, but they grow quickly, I think, and they'll help when it comes to keeping food around. Over there, I'll grow some grimmstone. They're named that because of the white plates you see on grimm, on account for their colour, and they're really resilient. They've got nice petals, but not many uses other than for nectar, but they'll work as decorations."

"I never took you for a gardener, Neo. Something had me thinking you preferred processed food and sweet things. Not much of that in hillside gardens."

"Ahah. My teeth almost rotted with the amount of ice cream I'd eat. Ironically enough, I had to stop eventually as my teeth grew too sensitive for the coldness. That was just around the time things got rough for us though, so I didn't miss it so much when I had to leave. As for the garden, I just want to bring a little more life to this place. Grimm have a habit of leaving the flora intact, and it's nice to just have something so...simple, and earthly around."

"Are you going to be long? I want to see you in action, so I can uh, see to business." She didn't want to sound impatient, but the longer she remained around Neo, the harder it was becoming to hate her. Whether she was or not, the tiny girl certainly seemed a lot more...down to earth...simple, even, and not in a bad way.

Neo let out a sigh, and shovelled a few more spadefuls of thick-smelling fertilizer, before standing up straight. "I'd scheduled today to working on my soon-to-be garden, Yang. But if it keeps you out of my hair, then fine, I'll show you what I can do."

Yang was about to correct her, but she stopped herself. There wasn't much point in reminding her, if it served her own ways. Gauging Neo in a fight was a good way to see if she could be overpowered and taken into custody after all this time. Plus, she'd be a little more vulnerable after a fight. "Please do, it'll have things done between us a lot quicker."

"Of course..." Neo stumbled over to the side of the house in her awkwardly sized boots, and set the bag of fertilizer and her spade against the side of the building. "Give me a moment then, I'll go prepare myself."


	4. Chapter 4

Neo was quick, as Yang had expected, and she was back out of the house in no time. Her clothing hadn't changed much, but this time she'd come out with her umbrella – from past experience, Yang knew what was stashed away, something the girl claimed was a misericorde – she never used it to win fights, only end them.

"So, do you know where any grimm are or are we just going to go get lost in the wilderness?" Yang asked, as soon as the girl was outside.

"They have their dens." Neo answered, as she began to walk straight ahead, forcing Yang to follow along. "We'll go to one I haven't seen in a while, something that's due for a visit, I'm sure it'll have a new resident, they always do."

"What can I expect, then? You did say the grimm in these parts were big and bad."

"They're quite dangerous, yes. There's not much for them to feed on, so the few that do inhabit these parts fight each other, instead. The ones that stick around are at the top of the food chain, so to speak. The longer they live, the more unique they become, looking less and less like their respective breeds as time goes on, almost like some sort of rapid evolution. Depending on what our luck is, we may find a run of the mill Ursa or Beowolf, or a new sort entirely."

"So if I don't recognize it, it's probably a really strong one?"

"Exactly, which means they'll be harder to predict in a fight and learning how to defeat it will be a trial of sorts. I doubt they'll prove much trouble to me, though, I've yet to find anything that has taxed me too much."

"You sure are uh, sure of yourself. What makes you think you won't run into anything real bad? I mean, it's not good to get too arrogant when your life is on the line."

"Oh, I know that. But I've spent the past year fighting them, Yang. No classes to interrupt me, no chores and commitments to stop me from studying them and every variation therein. I've made it a full time occupation."

She supposed that was true enough, if the stains attested to anything. "Well, then. I guess this'll go smoothly. If not, I can step in I guess." Yang didn't really want to do any fighting with Neo around and able to take advantage of the situation, but she couldn't let the girl get eaten if she wanted to get any closure on this.

"We'll see. I wouldn't want you to put in any extra effort." Neo replied, leaving Yang with some difficulty determining how much sarcasm was in that remark. Together they walked off through the hills, mostly in silence after that conversation, in hunt of a grimm worthy of Neo.

The Vale hillside took a new appearance under the glow of the sun. The dull foliage that clung to the ground before now seemed to spring to life, and colour filled the landscape, as if the greenery and plantlife had all emerged from the many cracks and crevices to bask in the sunlight. It might have been an unusual idea to Yang, but Vale had many locales such as this, the Forever Fall Forest being one of them.

After an extended trip, they descended down a slope, to find a cavern nestled away against an opposite cliff, partially obscured by thick outcroppings of stone and boulders. "See that?" Neo pointed out. "Quite a comfortable spot for a beast, protected from the gales that are frequent here, and I think rainwater often drains into it and pools up lower down, giving a source of water to drink from, too, although I've never actually seen them drink. Every time I clear it out, another grimm will take its territory here."

"You've really familiarized yourself with this place, haven't you? You're way more intelligent than I expected, to be honest." It was hard to miss just how impressed Yang was by her voice. "It's a shame you didn't put yourself to better use, eh?"

"Thank you for the reminder, Yang." Neo sighed, as she lead the blonde down the slope.

"Well, uh, I mean, you've got the rest of your life still, right?"

"Of course..."

Together they approached the mouth of the cave, and Neo halted her approach. "Yang, would you like to do me a favour?"

"Err, yeah, sure. Whaddya want?"

"Shout down in the direction of the tunnel. It'll carry quite far down and if there's something in there, it'll come up and find us. You can step back after that."

"Can't you do that? Are you scared or something?" Even so, she stepped forward towards the entrance.

"No. It's a...long story, but due to some health issues, it's difficult for me. You managed to force a yell out of me last night and my throat hasn't stopped hurting since."

"Oh, right, sorry about that, I just got a little worked up. Seeing you again brought up a lot of bad memories. Explains why you didn't talk much back then, though. Does that mean it's getting better?"

Neo shrugged. "It was. I don't know how it's going to turn out now."

Feeling a pang of guilt, Yang looked away and continued to walk ahead, eager to get a little distance after that particular revelation. She raised her hands to her mouth and used them to funnel her voice as she began to cry out. "Heellllooooo? Any big ugly grimm home?" After a brief silence, she shouted even louder. "AAAAA-"

"That'll do." Neo said, poking her in the back with the tip of her umbrella. "Let's get out in the open. I won't be able to do much in the dark."

"The cramped space would help you, though."

"It might help you, but not me. You'll see what I mean soon enough."

Just as she'd predicted, a low growl sounded back in return and heavy footsteps echoed up the tunnel as something emerged, following them out into the sunlight. The signature glowing red eyes were the first thing to become visible, followed by its bony white plate structure and coarse black fur as it emerged into the sunlight.

"Here's our pal." Yang chuckled – that was, until she got a proper look at it. From the front, it looked like an average beowolf, aside from a more natural stance where it walked on all four feet, rather than ambling on its two hind legs. It looked far more like an actual wolf than an average beowolf, but its main distinguishing feature was the fact that it was covered from head to toe in thick white bone plate, patterned with a vast network of red marks.

She backed away in a hurry, the worry painted clearly on her face. "I've never seen a grimm like this, holy shit!"

Neo was doing the same, although not quite so panicked. "It's quite a special snowflake, yes."

"Does it have a name?"

"No. It could be a very, very ancient beowolf, or an ancestor." Neo brought her umbrella up, as it approached her, most likely finding an easier target in the tiny girl.

The wolf grimm bounded in her direction, paws pounding on the ground as its sheer weight flattened the grass beneath it. In a speed that contrasted with its size and heaviness, it lunged at her, and Yang could have sworn Neo was going down under it at that speed. Yet, as she disappeared underneath a mass of white armour, she re-emerged behind it, and began to gain distance on it.

"How are you supposed to hurt that thing? It's covered in armour and you don't even use a gun!" Yang called out, having perched herself atop a tall rock to get a good view.

Of course, from that distance Neo couldn't answer back with her inadequate vocal ability, and worked out an answer for herself in her head. She had little time to dwell on it however, as the grimm spun around and went at her again, lashing out with a paw that was little different from a massive gauntlet, but with a few added spikes added in to the mix.

With lightning fast reactions and peerless acrobatic skill, she launched herself from the ground, using the extended claw as a mid point to leap up again atop the grimm's head. The grimm was just as potent though, and it lifted its maw up to snap her out of the air. Quickly Neo took it in turn and lowered her umbrella to wedge it between its teeth, while withdrawing her slender blade out in the same motion. It was barely enough to prevent the mouth from closing, but she was out of range quickly enough, travelling beyond its head and landing atop the grimm's back instead. She winced as she heard her beloved weapon shatter under the pressure of its bite.

Neo had but a few brief moments to examine the makeup of the bony plates that protected the grimm, before it tossed her off. She righted herself easily and landed on her feet, right before the grimm followed up with another snap of its jaws. She leapt back out of range, but the grimm had little trouble swinging again with the other arm. Neo barely had time to evade it – she ducked out of the way, but was clipped along her legs, which sent her tumbling across the ground.

The wolf grimm seized a clear opportunity to finish her off, and lunged back at her, only to find itself with her slim weapon jamming into its nose, one of the few areas that wasn't protected. Still on her back, Neo yanked her weapon out – only to have a rush of blood spill out behind it, and over herself – before using the beast's brief panic that ensued with the pain to get away.

Yang was on the edge – literally – she was ready to leap off the rock and keep it off her, but as Neo evaded its grip over and over, she understood why the tiny girl was so good at what she did. Just like when Yang fought her the first time, she absolutely refused to let her foe keep her down or take the advantage – and if it did, she turned it against them to land her own attacks.

Left with a bloody muzzle, it chased after her – this time though, it paused before it reached her, lowering its head and baring its ferocious set of teeth, with shards of her umbrella scattered between them. It studied her while threatening her with its stance, and she did the same, ready to respond in the blink of an eye.

Yang's heart out of her chest as the grimm moved forwards in the blink of an eye, mouth closing around Neo before she'd even registered that it'd moved at all – only for her to shatter into a rain of glass. She emerged from nothingness atop its ahead, and drove her weapon's point into the grimm's eye – so far down in fact, she head to crouch down, her hand and the hilt almost making contact with the skull. She retracted her weapon it as soon as it'd made its way inside, releasing a shower of blood in the arc of her withdrawal.

Yang expected a horrific roar, one final cry from the grimm, yet it merely slumped to the ground, before burning away into a cloud of smoke, leaving no trace of its existence other than the blood that had splattered over the ground, and of course, on Neo.

She jumped down from her rock and jogged over to Neo, who tried to wipe the blood from her clothes and skin with a look of disgust on her face. "You did it! That's amazing, I didn't think something that big and protected could be killed so easily!"

"Why not?" Neo replied, lacking much joy in her voice at all. "With no souls to give them aura, their most vulnerable areas are exposed. There isn't a single grimm that won't go down if you can pierce their eyes and go straight for their brain. Or at least, where I assume their brain would be."

"Hmm, I suppose you're right! I usually just punch them and shoot them until I go down. I should really think smarter about fighting them...you'd think I'd have done that more after graduating, but brute force works pretty well!"

"It wasn't enough to save my umbrella, though." Neo sighed. "That was one of the few old things I had left..." Just as her shoulders sagged, she bolted up again, with a hard expression. "We're done here – we need to go, before any more arrive."

"What's the big deal? We can take them down easily, right? You've just killed one of the nastiest ones I've seen in a long time." Yang couldn't help but grin, seeing a victory like that always got her blood rushing.

"Please, Yang, just listen to me. I will leave you behind if you don't keep up."

"Geez, fine, fine. For somebody so full of herself you're worrying over nothing."

"Good lord, I never wanted to be out here in the first place today. Just get moving." She said, as she immediately stormed off, back up the slope they'd descended.

Yang shook her head, and followed after Neo. What was up with her? Maybe it was the blood...or her broken weapon. She had a few reasons, now that Yang thought about it, and yet, this situation didn't really help her decide whether to take Neo in. She took advantage of her own semblance and fighting style, combined with the grimm's glaring vulnerability.

Either way, something about Neo had suddenly changed, and Yang found herself intent on finding out what.

For somebody so short, Neo apparently had little difficulty walking at a very brisk pace, and Yang had to push herself to keep up. The girl had no words for her at all during the short journey back, and Yang didn't dare ask for anything more just yet. As they approached the home, Neo looked back at Yang, her face hard and cold.

"Don't come in just yet. I'll call you in when I'm ready to have you." No requests, this time.

"Why? What's the big deal? Gotta wash off your clothes? I've seen you in your underwear already, I don't care that much."

"Stop asking questions and just do as I say." She commanded. Yang had a feeling that not obeying her would have worse results than a slap on the wrist. So, she stood by the door, and once Neo went inside, slamming the door on the way, she leaned against the wall, looking out onto the hillside.

Clouds began to cluster the sky, and she felt a sudden dissipation of heat as the sunlight was blocked out. Still, she waited patiently enough. Five minutes went by, and her concern was but a mere itch. By ten minutes, it needed scratching. Fifteen minutes came, and concern settled in. Unable to resist, Yang took a look through one of the clouded windows – she couldn't see Neo in the main room.

With a huff, she decided to go inside and see what was going on. Neo hadn't locked the door, and it swung inwards as she pushed at it. It was quite for a few moments, before she was greeted by the sound of retching, and then a rather sickening sloshing of fluid. Following the sound, she came upon Neo, hunched in front of her toilet, which was stained black on the inside.

"Neo! Are you alright? What's wrong?" Yang couldn't help but notice the concern in her own voice, something she hadn't actively put thought into.

Neo turned to look back up at Yang. Her white eyes were bloodshot – actually, Yang realized that her irises had been white the entire time, whereas they'd cycled through pink and brown, and very rarely white in their encounters in the past. Why hadn't she picked up on that before?

"I told you to wait outside." She grunted. Her voice was hoarse, raspy even, a painful contrast to her otherwise calm, smooth voice.

"You're sick – what happened?" Somehow, Neo must have expected this. Yang was in a rush to figure things out herself, before Neo withdrew and relinquished any information that could be snatched at. "You were expecting this, weren't you? What was it? The fight? The...blood?"

"Hmph. You actually caught on, did you?" She raised an arm to wipe some stray spittle that clung to her lips. "The blood is...vile, worse than anything I've ever experienced."

"But I've been caught by grimm blood in the past, too. It's not that bad...Is it?"

"I don't have an explanation for you, Yang. It's strong enough to knock me sick – and it does, on regular occasion." She took a moment to breathe, and her eyes dropped to the floor, breaking their gaze. "Save me the awkwardness and tell me what you've decided."

"Decided? What are – oh." Well, she suddenly felt very on the spot. But in this situation, despite the anger she felt over Neo's past actions, seeing her like this made it hard to condemn her. Her nausea was clearly a direct result of her grimm killing, and it left a permanent mark on her. It was a punishment of its own. And yet, there was also a sickening, stomach turning tinge of pity for the girl. She'd dropped the entirety of her life – well, what hadn't been taken from her – and exiled herself to killing some of the deadliest, oldest grimm on her own, with no team, no friends, no comfort. She slept on a rocking chair as if she were an elderly woman, and even the pink in her hair seemed to have lost most of its colour. She had little else but her freedom at this point, why take that from her, if it served a purpose?

"I...I'll leave you alone, Neo. You're doing a good service – you were right. You might not be taking punishment in the traditional sense, but you're not really living the high life, either. You're doing a job just as hard as – if not harder than mine, without much to show for it. There's no point in forcing you into a cell. Besides, you've been hospitable to me, and I appreciate that!" She tried to add in some cheer at the end, seeing as there was already so little of it.

"Thank you, Yang. I knew you'd see sense. I don't plan on leaving any time soon, regardless of any worries you may have...I've nothing to go back to."

"Are you going to be alright? You're not ill or anything, are you?"

"Yang, I single-handedly took down a heavily armoured ancient grimm with what is essentially a glorified pointed stick. Of course I'll be alright."

"Well, if you say so, Neo. I've gotta admit...it was interesting meeting you as...well, not as entirely enemies. I was pretty amazed by your fighting ability back there. And I, uhm..." She looked away for a moment, before turning back again to find Neo looking up at her, matching her gaze. "Well, I appreciate your whole change of heart, as far as it's going. It's good to know that there's someone out there who's taking care of such big grimm. Been a long time since anything big has approached the city, maybe I can thank for you for that."

"You could if you wanted, but It wouldn't change much. Now, not to be rude, but you did come here uninvited. My home isn't meant for more than just myself, and I've been on this floor for quite some time. I'd appreciate it if you went on home to your loved ones and left me to clean up this mess. "

"Oh...right, sure thing." Yang backed up a little. This sure was a strange place to say their good-byes. "See you around, Neo. Good luck with your uhm, well. Good luck with life, I guess."

"Same to you, Yang. Goodbye."

She let herself out, chased by the sounds of Neo's thick, coarse coughs as she left the small home. This was going to be a secret she really needed to keep. If anyone knew she'd met a fugitive criminal and kept her whereabouts to herself, she'd get in trouble. Yet, for some reason, leaving left her with a lingering melancholy. There was something that made her want to go back, and be involved with Neo's life somehow – even if it meant antagonizing her.

Well, that was certainly a stupid, strange impulse, and the best she could do was ignore it. Besides, she was practically starving, and there was a frozen meal at home with her name on it.


	5. Chapter 5

It'd been weeks, or maybe months, since they'd met and then departed each other's company, but that girl's name had flashed in her mind repeatedly. Why did Yang keep thinking of her? She was a villain. Well, at one point in her life, at least, yet she still had little reason to care about the girl.

Maybe all she needed was a reminder, something to bring that anger bubbling back to the surface. It wasn't good to dwell on your anger, but if it stopped you from growing any amount of love for what was bad, then it could protect you, at least.

"Hey, Rubes. Do something for me?" Yang asked, as she sat at the dining table in their kitchen – which was also shared with Blake and Weiss. They were rarely all in the house together at the same time, and often spent multiple nights away from the home, but it worked well enough as a base camp of sorts.

"What? I can't stay long, I've got a mission to do." Her younger sister replied, as she rushed around the bottom floor to collect her things while slipping in mouthfuls of her breakfast every time she went through the kitchen.

Yang waited till she came back in before continuing. "Can I see your scar real quick?" She rested her elbows on the table and then her chin in her palms, as she fidgeted in her seat.

Ruby spun around on the spot to look at her, with a raised brow. "Why? Are you just trying to keep me around for longer?"

"No, no! I just...I'm curious to see it again, it's been a while. I've been wondering how it's healed."

Ruby's huff came after a brief delay, but as always, she complied with Yang's request. "Fiiiine." She lifted up her blouse – having since abandoned her 'combat dress' as she'd once nicknamed it, finding that simple clothes made combat far, far simpler. Her stomach was mostly smooth, with a few hints of muscle showing through, but by a wide margin the most dominant feature was the mark Neo had left – a failed stab wound that had instead turned into a sharp, long gash, permanently marking her torso.

"Wow, I don't remember it being that...big. How the hell did you even survive that?" Yang held back the memories of the accident – well, it wasn't an accident at all – but failed, and the flashes of sickening, frightening red and her sister's shrieks were hard to restrain.

"I did have you to bail me out. You were the only reason that girl – what was her name -"

"Neo."

"Yeah, Neo. You were the only thing holding her back from actually finishing me off. I don't know what it was, but she was always the creepiest one out of Torchwick's lot. She never talked, just smiled...a lot."

"She's got some kind of throat problem that stops her from talking, or something. I don't think she could help it."

"What?" Ruby's suspicion was betrayed by her narrowed eyes and scrunched up brow. "How do you know that?"

Yang sat up straight, pawing at her own cheek as she realised the mistake in that tidbit. "Uh, heard it on the grapevine, y'know. Some people know a little more about those lot than we do."

"Sure...well, I've gotta go! Have a nice day off, Yang! Seeya!" She switched from suspecting to cheery in the blink of an eye, and before Yang really had a chance to say her farewells, the girl was gone, leaving her with the memories of her sister on the brink of death.

She remained at the table, fuming. If Yang had intervened a moment later, her beloved sister would have been removed from the world entirely – it would have stricken her with grief, it would have ruined her entire life. Why did she just leave Neo be when she'd met her again? That girl deserved punishment, and she had a chance to deliver it. Whether or not Neo succeeded, the intent was there!

It looks like Yang had decided what to do with her day.

Yang travelled out into the hills once more, a location so barren and grimm-ridden that it'd never even been given a name. Names were important on remnant, and if a place was entirely negative or bore no historic value, it was left nameless. Even Mountain Glenn's name was still recognized in memory of those who died there, but these hills lacked any value at all as far as those who lived in Vale were concerned.

The sun was blocked from view behind thick, overcast clouds, and the meagre heat was drowned out by strong winds. What could have been a warm day had been pushed aside by the weather that frequented these hills.

Still, it wasn't enough to smother the growing fire within Yang. After all this time, she'd still yet to gain full control over her emotions, and her protective instincts were a quick route to causing her emotions to ignite. Her fists were clenched, and her teeth gritted and ground, each replay of those scene of events in her mind enough to leave angrier and angrier.

By the time Yang arrived at Neo's small home, she was ready to get her hands on the girl and give into whatever her anger commanded. She found her tending to the flowers and potato vines that had sprung up since she'd last seen her.

Neo looked up as soon as Yang was in view, with an evident look surprise on her face.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, her voice as quiet as ever. "I didn't think you'd be coming back to bother me."

"Yeah well, I've had a change of heart. You're coming back with me, if you've got a problem with that, then put up your dukes." The anger in her voice was barely restrained, quick and blunt.

"And what exactly has prompted this change of heart?" She asked, standing up to meet her.

"When I remembered just how much you hurt my sister, how you almost took her out of my life." Yet that had been the initial reason for her anger, hadn't it? Why had it died out the first time? Why was she allowing it to explode now, all of a sudden? She'd admittedly searched out for that reason when she asked Ruby to reveal her scar again.

"And yet here I am, bearing no anger despite you having put my father in jail."

"'Cause you know he was in the wrong, dumbass. We did what had to be done, he earned it."

"You're right, yes. I suppose you've thought over it enough, and it sounds like you're ready for a fight. I'll give you one if that's what you want."

"You're damn right it's what I want!" Yang answered with a yell, fists raised and set on Neo, as she closed in on her.

The fight was initiated with thrown fists battering the air, as once again, all of Yang's punches failed to meet any specific part of Neo. The girl ducked and dodged as if she knew exactly where Yang was going to swing each each time, and all she needed to do was move in accordance to the clearly visible patterns the blonde was presenting.

In fact, no matter how many times Yang punched, none seemed to be anywhere near to hitting her, to the point that she began to doubt that Neo was even real at all, perhaps just a ghost there to haunt an ancient place in the middle of nowhere. That notion was swatted aside instantly when Neo eventually counter attacked, a swift punch that served to dull the anger that had exploded within Yang.

Yang wasn't going to be so easily cowed however, and she ignited herself again – usually it took a little more punishment, but almost immediately her eyes turned blood red, and her hair shone golden, making her a blazing monument to her own anger. Her ignition came with a sudden rush of force that shook the ground and air around her, and even knocked Neo off balance long enough for her to follow up with a swift punch.

This one actually landed, and Neo was sent staggering back – her aura took most of the blow, yet it still left a bruise on her cheek, which left both of them wondering just how much damage it would have done without her aura to shield her.

Even so, Neo had regained her composure as soon as Yang moved in to finish her off, and her evasions were even more clear-cut. She'd learned a lesson from that punch clearly, and now she was even further distanced from every punch that Yang tried to land.

"Stop this, Yang." Neo's voice, while still quiet by most people's standards, was a little above her usual volume. "There's nothing to be gained from this but pain, quit while you can. Please."

"Shut up and fight me!" Yang roared, lashing out with her foot. It made contact with Neo, only to shatter her into countless pieces of illusionary glass. However, her instincts were on point, and she spun around to find Neo about to lash at her from behind. Her fist came around and pounded Neo on the other cheek, leaving her with another bruise on her face.

This time, Neo went down on the floor for good, and Yang stepped towards her, ready to haul her off. "I knew I'd beat you eventually. You've let yourself go, Neo."

She wasn't sure where she'd gone wrong – maybe she'd let her guard down once Neo was down on the floor, or maybe it was just out of her control entirely, but the next few moments went by in the blink of an eye and she'd been unable to react. One moment Neo was down, and the next, the girl was at her face, clawing and slapping and punching, punishing and abusing her in every manner possible. Yang could take punishment – she'd taken a hit from a paladin's fist, after all, but this was too much. The girl's flurry of savage attacks had her dazed and bewildered, and Yang had gone from a strong stance to being on the floor instead.

Her vision flashed repeatedly and her face ached, but eventually it was over, and she'd lost the will to fight entirely. By the time she'd regained some semblance of sense, Neo was kneeling over her chest, with tears streaming from her eyes. Blood trickled from her nose, while on the opposite side, Yang could feel the taste of her own on her lips.

The smaller girl's hands came up and pressed themselves against Yang's cheeks, and she held the blonde's head in place, as she spoke.

"I'm sick, Yang, you fucking idiotic stupid piece of shit. Let me rot in peace before I have to strangle you just to have some rest."


	6. Chapter 6

The next few minutes were a daze, as Yang laid on her back. Neo had collapsed atop her almost immediately, and she couldn't tell whether the girl was asleep or flat out cold for good. The uttermost revulsion rolled over her as she took note of just how warm and pleasant the girl felt as she laid atop her. That wasn't right – was she supposed to feel like that after they'd both just beaten the shit out of each other?

Her anger had been forcefully smothered by Neo's explosion, which had somehow managed to be much more violent than her own, and now she was left with the ashes of disappointment. She couldn't lay in the dirt forever, though, not when they were both bleeding.

It was a bit of a struggle, and Yang had to gentle push Neo off her so she could get up at all, but as soon as she was up, she scooped the exhausted girl up in her arms, and carried her towards her house, staggering and swaying as she did so.

The door swung inwards as she gave it a gentle kick, and closed by itself behind her as she wandered into the tiny space that constituted her bedroom. She settled Neo down and fluffed her pillows, giving her something to rest her head upon.

A few details were hard for her to miss as she came into the room, even if they were small and subtle. There were scratches everywhere – the pillow case had small tears, even the bedsheet was shredded in a number of places. Examining Neo's arms, she found her skin covered in similar scratches, blushing red trails that led down her arms and wrists. If the girl was sick, there was definitely more to it than she initially would have ever expected.

After a very brief trip to the sink, she came back with a damp towel and cleaned off the blood that streamed from her nose right into her mouth. She saw to her own face once Neo seemed to be in a better state, albeit at a sluggish pace.

"I'm sorry, Neo..." She mumbled. "I thought I was the good guy. This fight was over a long time ago...It ain't always about justice, huh? You're turning over a new leaf, that's what matters, right?" She knelt down beside the bed, resting her arms on the side. "And here I am, dealing with my own issues by taking them out on you. I am an idiot, you were right about that."

"Nnnh...what issues could you possibly have?" Neo groaned, as she stirred back into wakefulness. "Vale sees you as a hero, you've got your friends with you, no guilt, nothing..."

Yang huffed. "You're right. I've got no problems, really." That might not have been entirely true, but next to Neo, her life seemed good enough to not complain to the girl's face. "I mean...they're not issues, just, uhm. I couldn't stop thinking about you, Neo. It freaked me out, and I had to find a reason, and I turned to resentment, I guess."

"So the reason you attacked me is because you were confused?" Neo snorted. "As good a reason as any, I suppose..."

"You don't get it!" Yang inadvertently raised her voice, clenching her fists as well. "You hurt me sister, did all those bad things, and even if you're not causing trouble any more, it feels like an insult to everyone I care about to find this sudden...interest...in you. It's stupid and I'd rather just leave you alone."

"I thought you were going to, for a good while. Just as I started to want your company again, you come back and attack me."

"I'm sorry! I really am. I should have known you were sick, I heard you coughing and I caught you vomiting, I could tell something was wrong. I guess I didn't think about it on the way back, I assumed you would have recovered by now." Yang wrung her hands together as the guilt settled in, but before she could continue, a dainty finger was pressed to her lips.

"Forget it. If I expect you to forgive – or at least, push the things I've done aside, then I should make some allowance for your mistakes...to be honest, I lost control of myself. But please, control your emotions. If you know anything about grimm, and I should hope you do, then you'll be aware of the fact that they're drawn to negative emotions. I've been spending my entire time keeping a watch over myself...it'd be a shame to ruin my hard work now."

"Yeah, yeah. You're right. But I've got to come to terms with this stuff if that's gonna happen. Namely, why I can't stop thinking of you."

"Hmph. Well, if you want me to help you with that enigma, you can do something for me, first."

"What's that?"

"Go and make me some tea. You can do that without breaking anything, right?"

Yang grunted. "Sure. Give me a few minutes."

When Yang returned with a fresh cup of tea, Neo was sat up atop the bed with her boots off, and was in the process of shuffling under her blanket.

"I hope it's drinkable, I don't drink tea, or coffee, either." Yang handed over the cup slowly, keeping both hands on it as she passed it over. "So I'm not used to making them at all, except the off chance that one of my friends asks me to make some for them."

"We'll see." Neo said, as she accepted it and took a very cautious sip. She licked her lips for a moment, and nodded. "It'll do, thank you."

"So, uh. Don't look in a mirror any time soon. It ain't pretty. I mean, you're plenty pretty, but those bruises don't do you any good."

Neo's eyes locked on Yang for a moment while she took another silent sip, leaving her unable to be read for just a few seconds. "I can't say you're in any better shape." She eventually replied. "My...condition has left me a little unstable, and of course, coming along and punching me in the face, twice, was bound to set me off."

"Yeah..." She looked down at her lap for a moment, and caught something else as she lifted her eyes back up – Neo's fingernails were red and raw, split and uneven at the tips, "Your nails look sore." She commented, not quite so innocently. "Anything to do with the scratches on your arms? Maybe the bedsheets too?"

Neo scowled and tutted immediately. "Why do you care, Yang 'I missed you so I'm going to beat you up' Xiao Long? Your concern isn't welcome, especially if it's just a case of guilt that's making you worry."

Yang growled, and once again, she clenched her fists. "I said I'm sorry! I fucked up, okay? I never claimed to know what's going on with myself, heck, I didn't even become a huntress in the first place to do 'good'!"

"Then why? Why on earth would you become a huntress if you didn't even care about doing the right thing? There are far easier ways to earn a living. I mean, we both know that if morality's not what you care about, there are other ways to make money."

"I wanted to go wherever my sister went, and because she was the one who really wanted to be a huntress, I came with her to the academy...I just wanted a rush. I wanted to go around the world and beat the shit out of things, go on adventures, all that dumb junk. I mean, now that I look back it, I took a whole lotta joy in punching out Torchwick's goons. You made me so mad when I first saw you because you told me 'no' louder than anyone else had, even though you never said a word. Getting beaten so bad kinda made me think, 'wait, is this what I'm having so much fun doing to other people?' Heck, I wised up eventually after being around Blake long enough, and I caught on that the White Fang never really saw themselves as villains, even if Torchwick had control of them. Even if the things they did were wrong at times, I was still getting a gross sadistic pleasure out of doing whatever I thought was necessary to them."

Neo listened in silence, cradling her cup in her hands. "But...what does that have to do with the fact that you came along and did what you did?"

"My point is, like I said...I'm an idiot. A violent one. I see it in a lot of hunters and huntresses too, you know. You go along killing something that's 'pure evil' long enough and it kinda screws with you. I mean of course, fighting and killing other people? That screws with you too, probably far worse, but being set loose on a bunch of creatures with the sole purpose of slaughtering them by the hundreds at a time? It gives you a taste for blood, if you didn't already have it."

"You said the white thing believed what they did was right. You believed what you did was right. Even if it did cause me...a lot of trouble." Neo's face had loosened up from its previous contempt, and there was actually a hint of empathy in her expression.

Yang sighed, and rested her elbows on the edge of the bed and buried her face in them, as her voice broke up. "I can't help it, Neo. Hurting others is just an easy answer for me now. They say violence doesn't solve everything...but why have I been living a life where it does?"

"I'm not exactly the person to absolve you of your sins, but..." Neo laid a hand atop Yang's head, slowly and awkwardly, before petting her blonde hair just a little. "I at least understand. You don't go without seeing your fair share of violence growing up the way I did – even before Torchwick took me in. Either way, I'm not as angry as you may think, I'm mostly trying to put you off attacking me again in a way other than threatening you. Guilt works well, but I can't milk that too much. I suppose I should tell you what exactly is wrong with me..."

"You don't have to." Yang mumbled, as she pulled her head up to look at Neo. "I could just go home and never come back. Maybe that'd be better."

"Maybe it would." Neo's hand fell from atop Yang's head, and to her shoulder instead. "But I want you to stick around for a little while. The...the isolation has been a little more poignant, noticeable, since you first visited me. I'd like to say it was just the fact that interacting with someone made me realize what I was missing out on, but you're not the only person I've seen since I've been out here." She tugged at Yang's shoulder gently. "Get off the floor already, before I go any further."

Yang pulled herself up, and sat on the end of the bed, to avoid settling upon Neo's feet. "Go on." She was almost eager to see where this was going, even if her stomach turned just a little.

"You are, however, the first person to make me...miss my old life, the people I knew and the constant excitement. I'll never go back, but...you've stirred up this mess of emotions inside me, emotions I'd struggled to get under control when I first..." She paused, and took in a deep breath. "Well, the point is, after fighting so many powerful grimm, I started to investigate why they filled these hills, and I came across an age-old understanding of their kind, something which all hunters in training are taught, something I should have understood from the start. Grimm are attracted to negative emotions. Sure, settlements are awash with all the emotional baggage of humans and faunus alike, but they're hidden behind thick stone walls and defences, which the more intelligent grimm are loathe to approach. But out here? There's nothing to contest their movement, except me – which is the entire reason they're here. My baggage is like blood in shark-infested waters, and as long as I stay here, they'll come here looking for a banquet of negativity to feed on."

Yang was about to speak up, but Neo held a hand up to hold her off for a moment. "I'm not done. What you need to understand is that, I'd managed to control myself. I held them down, I stopped my past life and failures from dragging on me, and without any of that weighing me down, I was able to stomach the loneliness, and I could take down these grimm who were losing the food source they hungered for. Then you showed up, and all at once, it all came bubbling back up. That grimm you saw was the toughest thing I'd fought in a long time, entirely because it was drawn to the mess you'd left my emotional state in. By that point, my body was already in a poor state...you see, it's their blood, the blood is making me ill, Yang. After the vomiting and the coughing came more and more frequently, I went and did some research, because I can't afford to be ill out here on my own."

"What did you find out?"

"They call it Hyde's disease." Neo said, her voice dropping to a barely audible tone. "Continued exposure to grimm's blood, coupled with intense negativity, restrained or exposed causes it to flourish. Apparently hunters and huntresses are trained in teams for the emotional support they can give each other, it makes them resistant to the blood's psychotic effects. It's the grimm's evolutionary response to foes that can survive for extended bouts of exposure to them – if they can't outright kill them, then their blood corrupts them."

"Neo, that sounds real bad. You should see a doctor, then. Maybe a therapist even, get everything you can to help you."

"How, Yang? My financial situation is set up to barely match my basic needs. I'm still a wanted woman, as soon as I go back into the city."

"I'll call a doctor out, I'll pay for it! It's my fault!" Yang's heart raced and she leaned towards Neo, pleading with her eyes. "What's going to happen to you, Neo? Tell me!"

"I can't. I can't...say...I don't want you to know."

"You have to, I'm not letting you hide this from me, so spit it out right now before I force you."

Neo visibly chewed on her bottom lip, as her face seemed to fall apart, the edges of her mouth quivering while her eyes began to water. "I-I'll turn into one of them, Yang! I'll turn into the monster I've always been one, but now I'll look like one, too!" She broke up all at once, falling into a state of shuddering sobs and a slow recoiling of her entire body.

Before she could withdraw properly however, Yang crawled towards her and wrapped her arms around her. A few years ago, she would have left Neo to it – it would have meant one less worry for her and a fitting fate for all the deeds she'd done, but she couldn't just leave the girl be. She cared.

"A real monster doesn't feel regret." Yang breathed out her words, soft comforts against a failing girl. "We may have been enemies – I might have even hated you, but...I can feel it, I can feel that you're not wrong. Let me help you, Neo. Just...just tell me what you want, and I'll do all I can to make it happen."

"I'm scared, Yang." Neo said, her words spluttered out almost incomprehensibly as she buried her face in Yang's shoulder. "I don't want to die alone. Please...stay with me?"

"You're not going to die Neo, I'll be here and I'll make sure you don't."

"Promise?"

Oh, that was a bad word for her. But how could she not? The girl needed hope. "I promise, Neo. I don't know how the two of us, of all people, ended up like this, but we're here now." If the sickness came from the negativity and the blood exposure, then she'd protect her – no grimm would touch her, and she'd feel no more isolation. Most people withered away when they were left to themselves for so long, anyway. "I'll keep you safe."

Neo's sobs had been short lived, and there was no longer any sound coming from her, not even a reply. When Yang pulled back a little, she finally caught on to the fact that Neo had somehow dozed off to sleep again. She was definitely a potent fighter, but she was still the tiniest person she'd ever met, and something told Yang that she didn't exactly have vast reserves of energy in that small frame of hers.

The bed was tiny to match, but there was just enough space to settle Neo down, with enough left over to allow Yang to settle down beside her, and lay there with her. Staying awake or sleeping, it didn't matter; she'd be there when Neo woke up, to remind her that she wasn't going to be alone.


	7. Chapter 7

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

(I just want to apologize, now that I've caught it, if you see any strange jumps or leaps on story progression. Of course, it's simply a natural case of cutting out the non-relevant details that come with certain actions, such as travelling, or menial tasks. The reason there may seem to be jumps in progression is because I wrote this for AO3 originally, and I'd upload chapters as I wrote them, which were shorter than the chapters here, due to me simply merging them to form larger ones. Scene transitions would largely just take place between chapters, so the skips wouldn't seem so strange. Thank you for reading, and I hope it doesn't harm your experience too much.)

Yang must have dozed on at some point, because she awoke to a position she hadn't honestly expected to be in. Neo had pressed right up against her and latched her arms around her, with their faces pressed cheek-to-cheek together. All her limbs ached, which was what she had expected in this situation. Her only option was to try and stretch to get her blood flowing again, but she ended up disturbing the small girl that had attached to her.

Neo's eyes eventually opened, and the sensation of the girl's delightfully soft skin rubbing on hers as she pulled away left her aching for more contact. What Yang couldn't help but notice however, was that for the first time since she'd been her, her eyes were no longer white – in fact, both were a deep, rich brown, and somehow, she could feel the warmth in them.

There was a brief hint of confusion on Neo's face when she tried to move her arms that had locked themselves around Yang, but she accepted the situation readily enough and opted to stay where she was.

"How are you holding up?" Yang asked, her voice as soft as she could manage.

"Better." Her voice was barely audible though, and it was only because they were a but a few inches apart that she could hear Neo. "My throat is dying, though. I talked too much."

"You did spill your heart out and cry a little, it happens even if your throat's fine."

"You don't mind...this, do you?" Neo asked, each word coming out after clear deliberation.

"Nope. It's uh, kind of nice, to be honest."

"That's good. It's been a long time since I've held somebody like this."

Maybe brutality was a pleasure from the old days that she still tasted, something she craved and could never give up. A life of grimm-slaying certainly afforded that one horrendous delight. Of course, all who were able were expected to lend their efforts to keeping the menace down – but to enjoy it invited corruption.

Neo had learned that the hard way, and once her insides began to blacken, the constant urge to scratch, to tear, to bite and to roar and growl and give in to the beast within grew and grew and never ceased. From the moment she woken up beside Yang, that urge was there – even with her anger diminished, part of her so desperately wanted to scratch away at the blonde's skin until there was nothing left.

Yet, after so long, something overpowered it. The scent that bordered on honey, and warmth that was almost far too intense for a human yet still managed to remain all encompassing and welcoming.

So why did it leave her so miserable? Because it had arrived far too late to save her? Because it was coming from somebody who for all intents and purposes may as well have been her enemy?

Because she knew it was ephemeral.

She had to get her mind off it, or else she'd go crazy. At least the corruption was retreating, leaving room for her emotions to plague her instead.

"I want to get back to my garden, Yang. Would you...like to help me? We trampled some of the flowers, but maybe I can make some progress if you help me out." Neo asked, as she climb up off her tiny bed, straightening out her shirt and pants. She found a loose white petal in her hair, which must have been trapped when she'd been knocked to the ground, and laid it down upon Yang's nose.

Yang huffed it off and nodded. "Sure, I guess I had some part in that."

Neo would have called that a gross understatement, but she decided not to push it, Yang seemed remorseful enough. Gardening was nice, though, it was a good way to relieve tension and bring yourself back down to earth – the smell of petals, the feel of dirt between your fingers, it brought back childhood visions.

Neo had never really grown tall enough to feel far away from the ground though, no matter how much arrogance she'd accumulated.

"Let's go then. The tools are outside, I'll show you what you need to do."

The weather was still moody, but she was used to it. It'd almost become comforting, as if to set a tone for her life. The cool quiet breeze that brushed against her skin when her body grew hot with exertion, the tickle of raindrops from clouds that always seemed to threaten to yield their cargo, the silence and space, all of it had made the transition from unwelcoming and alien, to familiar and homely.

"I don't have any spares, so I suppose we'll have to take different duties up. I'll deal with the soil, seeing as it's my garden and I know where I want everything planted, you can water anything that looks dry. It may look wet out here but it rains far less often than you'd think."

"Oh, alright then. Sounds easy enough."

"Hmm, well if that's the case, if you see anything that looks like a weed, yank it out. It's not the most I could be doing but usually it's enough." With that being said, Neo went to collect the tools that were flung across the garden when they'd fought.

Soon enough they were squatting down at different points working around the humble patch of flowers that had popped up, and Yang seemed to be working extra carefully to avoid trampling anything.

They worked for a good while in near silence, aside from the odd grunt of exertion from Yang, every time she pulled out a stubborn weed, before she eventually spoke up and caught Neo's attention.

"Hey, Neo. How did you learn to fight like you did? I don't want to poke fun at you, but you're one of the shortest fully grown people I've ever met in my life. I mean, you never went to an academy as far as I know, and something tells me you didn't go to any other similar organization, so what's the deal?" She seemed genuinely curious, rather than accusatory.

"I don't have a good explanation for you there, Yang. No hidden secrets or anything. I figure it was just a case of survival of the fittest and a mix of natural talent, perhaps. You hear how some of the faunus that survive outside the safety of the cities are some of the best fighters around, hm? I had a rough life, and father always had me in the thick of it, as you could see when we first met. I'd run into one or two fully fledged hunters before that, even. I wouldn't say I won the fights again them, but I learned one or two things."

"Boy, that's rough. Don't you ever, like, wish you could stop fighting? Take up a normal life or something?"

"Heh. Yang. Come now, you came here to try and lock me up and stop that from happening. Why on earth are you asking me that?" Wait, no, that was a mistake. "I'm sorry, I didn't really mean that. The bruises are just leaving me a little sour." She held off on her answer for a little while, and she caught Yang watching her expectantly, continuing to prompt her answer in silence. Shrugging, she shook her head. "What would I do if I stopped fighting? What else am I good at?"

"You'd know better than me." Yang returned a shrug of her own. "You uh, worked in a 'big business', you're gardening right now, too. You don't have to be a prodigy in everything to get anywhere in a career."

"Maybe...but I don't deserve to. I don't want to go into that kind of life, though, mingling with people that very well could have just been part of the collateral damage of my lifestyle."

"What about -"

"Yang, shush. I'm done answering questions. You're always, 'Why this? Why that?' and it's a little frustrating."

"Sorry." Yang replied, ducking her head down, somewhat cowed. Squatting like she was, her long blonde hair was almost dragging along in the dirt.

"It's fine...if you want to figure me out, you're going to have to avoid picking my brains quite so blatantly. Maybe I should do the same to you."

Yang looked back up, smirking. "It wouldn't bother me! Ask away. This whole gardening thing is kinda boring, anyway. I'm just trying to keep a conversation going so I don't get too bored."

"I didn't expect you to like it, but I don't care, really." She looked back down as she kept working, before eventually looking back up, not at Yang, but at the surrounding hillside.

"So, what'll it be?" Yang asked, prompting her once again.

"Hmmm...actually, I've always known that hunters and huntresses slay grimm, but what are the finer points? Do you have quotas? Do you work like a private military? Police? Armed forces? Why are you here, and not at work?"

"Heh, well, I guess I was asking that question when I first came here from Patch. There are different fields among us hunters. There are the teachers, of course, which are what most civilians see if they don't leave the safety of the cities often, they have the easiest jobs, if you want to call dealing with teenagers 'easy', cause they don't go too far afield all that often."

"I could have guessed there were teachers. But don't stop, I want to know more."

"After that, there's the sector me and Rubes are in. They call us Guardians, mostly because we're limited to the cities themselves and the surrounding locales. We keep the cities safe, but usually aren't expected to deal with criminals – but a lot of us get involved in anything that we catch wind of anyway, cause grimm attacks aren't often enough to keep us busy every day."

"Why'd you become a Guardian, then?"

"Ruby, mostly. Guardian or teacher, they both seemed to be the least likely choices for me when I was first introduced to the different roles, cause I wanted to keep exploring and experiencing the world. Vale was just the first stop on what would have been my great big journey, but...after the things that happened during our years in Beacon, I found value in something else – what little family I had left."

"Makes sense, I suppose. I can't say what I had was a 'family', but you know how it is...they were there with me, and I was stuck with them. You get attached."

Yang nodded vigorously in response. "Yeah, see! And Ruby felt the same, not just about me and dad, but about Blake, Weiss, and all the other teams we'd worked with. She wanted to hold on to what she loved, and being a Guardian was the best way in her eyes. At that point, I didn't want to do anything that'd keep me away from her, either, not after she'd almost died a few times."

Yang held off for a moment, before forcing herself to continue. "But uh, yeah. Then there's the Cullers. They've got the real dirty work. They spend almost all their time out of civilization, travelling and looking for all the grimm they can find. They get paid the most in compensation, but boy, it's rough stuff. I'd say they're our best hopes for getting rid of the grimm, but the world's a big place and there's more of them than there are of us. Something tells me they ain't just gonna disappear after we kill enough."

"The grimm are ageless and ancient beyond all belief." Neo agreed. "They feel more like a metaphysical concept than a thing we can just wipe out. Would you be a Culler, if not a Guardian?"

"Nah." Yang shook her head. "There's not so much exploration and thrillseeking as there is waging a constant war against an enemy that doesn't really diminish in the long-term. Sure they can lower populations for a while, but they come back eventually. Apparently a lot of Cullers get worn out and move to teaching."

Sensing the inevitably follow up question, she kept going. "I was gonna go for what most people imagine when they think of your typical hunter – a Vigilant. They travel around their assigned region or country, and do a bunch of different things. Deal with any urgent issues, like packs of grimm that get too large, scout and keep track of grimm movements so the Cullers can clear an area out. They're very flexible and can fit any situation – they're not as battle-hardened as Cullers, but are still good at what they do."

Neo nodded, watching Yang as she spoke the entire time. "Yeah, I can see you doing that. Must be easy as a Guardian, at least. I bet there's not even much crime for you to handle nowadays. Is that why you're allowed to dawdle around out here with an ex-criminal?"

"I'm not ALLOWED to." Yang laughed. "There are still the grimm wandering around that we're expected to try and keep down, and they can generally tell if we've been slacking because of the lack of grimm exposure that shows up on us when we go in for medical checks. Heck, if you got yourself looked at with all that stuff that's piled up on you, they'd give you a huge pension and let you retire right now."

"Gee, don't remind me how easy it could be." Neo waved Yang's comment off with a dainty hand. "Surely they don't just trust you to do whatever you want, though?"

"No, they don't. I'm technically on call, they can get hold of me at any times and all of a sudden there's an urgent mission or problem that needs dealing with. While technically I'm stuck to a set area, sometimes if the grimm population is really bad somewhere else, they'll ship me off to where the trouble's worst until it's under control – heck, there ain't a single hunter who's exempt from that rule, not even the teachers."

Neo finally stood up properly, surveying the garden-in-the-making around her, a faint smile of satisfaction on her lips. "At least I know that I can just stay here to do my share of local violent killings."

"With the state you left that Ursa in, it's probably best you don't let anyone else see you at work, anyway." Yang chuckled, standing up. "We done here?"

"For now." Neo nodded. "You can never be truly done with a garden, but I think we've done enough today." She stared at Yang for a moment that seemed to drag on, almost for an uncomfortable length of time, before she eventually added on, "Thank you for the help. I think you deserve something to eat."

Yang rested her elbows upon the barely-a-table that sat in the non-existent partition between the living room and the tiny kitchen. The exertion in the garden had woken an appetite in her, and the smell of a simple, yet pleasant meal being prepared was stoking it further.

Something else was being stirred up however, as she remained in Neo's presence. It was worrying, nagging, and somehow, seducing – and it urged to be entertained. "Life's kinda strange, isn't it?" She spoke out of the blue.

Neo paused, and looked over her shoulder at Yang from her stand at the counters. "What do you mean?"

"How much it changes, even just over a few years. I mean, look at you. You were like...well, you seemed so flippant and playful towards almost everything. Nothing seemed to bother you and you always had a smile on your face. It pissed me off, sure, but now that I think about it, we both had pretty similar attitudes when it came to fighting, except for when I got angry. I guess we cancelled each other out, huh?"

Neo had already turned back around to her task at hand. "Sure, it's strange. But it always has and always will be like that. Some people keep their youth, and some don't. I don't know about you, but I didn't hold on to much."

"I kinda wanna see you like that again." Yang said, not really thinking about what she was saying. "Now that we're not outright enemies."

"Why?"

"This is probably the weirdest answer I can give you, but...nostalgia?"

"Nostalgia for the all the things I and Torchwick did?"

"No, no! I mean, nostalgia for the time I spent with my team, nostalgia when the world still felt like an adventure, when I was still experiencing things for the first time, rather than over and over and over."

Neo turned around fully this time, and chewed on her bottom lip, her eyes wandering off to the side. "I have to admit, fighting you was quite...fun. Thrilling, even. The first time, you were just angry. But after that? Gaining control of your temper did wonders for you, and meeting you with a smile on your face gave me chills. I knew it was going to be good. And then you almost killed me." She chuckled, before adding, "And I had no problem with that at all."

"Yeah..." Yang sighed, as she settled in her chin in her hands. "Grimm don't give me that feeling, they're nothing compared to an actual person. I can't get it from my friends, either, even if I saw them regularly to begin with. Blake's fighting is so amazing that she's practically a superhuman – maybe Faunus are superhuman. Buuuut. I can't actually seriously injure her, even if I can push her pretty far. Fighting to...uhm..." She drifted off as she realized what she was actually going to admit.

Neo caught on, though, because she'd been thinking the same thing. "Fighting to kill. That's what you were going to say, isn't it? Fighting with all your being, fighting to survive. Fighting to spill a person's blood. Extinguishing a soul...it's such a morbid pleasure, one that shouldn't be be entertained..."

"But you savour it when you have the chance, right? Maybe not everyone does, but we do, don't we?"

"I suppose this is where a villain might tell the hero that they're not so much alike, hmm?"

"Heh." Yang snorted out a laugh, even if she was grimacing. "Maybe we are alike, though. Not for the best reasons, but people relate to bad things, don't they?"

"You're relating to me, are you?" Neo asked, with a raised brow. "That's not good for you. That's quite bad, actually."

"You're interesting. You always have been." Yang conceded. At that, Neo let out a long giggle, for reasons she couldn't discern, and even more to her bemusement, her heart fluttered for a moment at the girlish, youthful sound.

"The food's gonna burn." Neo eventually managed to say, after her laughter paused.

"What was so funny? Tell me!" Yang insisted.

"No, no." Neo was focused back onto the food. "You just reminded me of something else. Stop distracting me now, I need to see to this." Even so, her voice was pleasant enough, and it lacked the usual weight and sobriety it'd carried so far.

It made her happy. It shouldn't have made her happy. Yang hid her face in her palms, as she refused to contemplate the odd butterflies that cluttered her stomach, and instead, focused on the smell of the food Neo was about to serve her. She needed to go home.

The butterflies wanted to know more, the pangs in her heart were urging her to sate her curiosity. Perhaps there was that hint of concern, too – scratches on wrists, shredded fabric, scars and wounds, none of them hinted at anything good. She took the perfect opportunity when Neo laid out the food upon the table – baring her wrists as she set a plate down.

"Neo?" Yang asked, as subdued as possible.

"Yeah? What's up?" She brought her other plate along and handed it to Yang ready to settle down.

"What...what's with those scratches on your wrists? I noticed tears in your bedding, too, they almost looked like clawmarks, somehow."

All the motion in Neo's body evaporated, and she stood on the spot, half bent over as she laid her own plate upon the table. Yang's lips fumbled at an attempt to rectify this apparent offence, but Neo broke the tension and spoke up.

"I told you, I'm...I'm sick. That's it. You know already."

"And it makes you leave scratch marks? Heck, they look like they're starting to scar over. That's kinda scary, Neo. Not to mention the tears in your bed – you don't have a pet in here, do you?"

The stress was evident in Neo's eyes – she almost looked as if she were in pain. Maybe she was, for all Yang knew, it was not like she could tell what she was feeling, especially if she was sick.

"Fine, if you want to know the truth, it's...a part of the sickness, I suppose that was obvious. What I mean, is...it's the influence of the corruption, of the grimm blood. It feeds on your worst traits, and perverts them to far worse extents. It takes my capacity for violence, and somehow, gives me these horrible, feral urges. But I have nothing to turn on, and I turn on myself, when I'm alone and everything goes dark." She didn't sit down, instead leaning on the back of her chair as if her energy was rapidly depleting.

Yang stood up, and walked over, laying her hands on Neo's shoulders, before slipping one under her arm to straighten her up. It slipped around her waist, and she offered her the most supporting look she could manage. "Don't stop. Help me understand." Yang said, voice low and soft.

Neo looked up, and nodded. "It's horrible. I start to growl and snarl. I feel like an animal. I become one, there's nothing else to dress it up as. I break things and tear whatever can be torn. I don't have spare bedding, I couldn't just throw it away." She said, desperately trying to excuse herself. "When I can't let myself break anything else, I satiate my rabid behaviour by tearing into my own skin. I've come so close to almost killing myself painfully by going too far into my wrists, Yang..." Her voice cracked, splintered, and her words came out in split syllables, her voice quivering far too much to keep going on like it was.

"I'll be here, Neo." Yang immediately said, stopping Neo from going further. She knew enough, and now that mess of a corpse that had led Yang here in the first place suddenly made sense. There was no way she could have done that in her right mind. She might have been dangerous, but she wasn't as rabid as that. "I won't let you hurt yourself." And now Yang understood herself, too. Even if Neo had done a lot to harm her and her friends in the past, that basic sense of compassion for a lonely girl like this couldn't let her take out her revenge, hell, it couldn't even let her just leave her alone.

Perhaps it was pity, pity for the Neo who had fallen so far, but then there were those troublesome butterflies that fluttered and flocked to Neo's smiles, her smooth, level-headed manner, the Neo that seemed like a fully-grown, matured, wonderful woman.

"I'll be here for you." Yang repeated. At some point, her arms had embraced her fully, and Neo had buried her face in her chest, which made for a warm, welcoming place of hiding. "I'm on your side. I promise."

Neo nodded, her head moving just a few fragments up and down to signal her acceptance, while the firm squeeze she gave Yang showed her appreciation.

Warmth and chills alike ran across Yang's skin, while her heart sank and swelled at the same time. She was giving in to herself, that much she knew. Her sympathy and care for the destitute girl made it all hurt, and yet her... her love – yes, that had to be it. The flowers in the small, resilient garden in the front obviously hadn't been the only things to sprout despite the cold conditions. Her sudden, budding love and want left her tingling with purpose, a genuine desire, for the first time since her youth.

After a few, time-stretched moments, Neo looked up with red eyes, the struggle to compose herself reflected on her face, and she spoke. "We should eat. Don't...don't want the food to go cold now, do we?"

Yang answered with a soft smile, and nodded, her eyes glimmering in response. When she was sure Neo wasn't going to drop to her knees without her support, she slowly pulled away, her arms uncoiling and sliding along her skin.

The next few moments went in silence, as a strange sense of mutual understanding and preparation settled over them both. The food was a good excuse not to say anything, as the realization was a little overwhelming. A bitter bond, with a resilience that would be tested yet, had formed between them - one that forgot the past and endeavoured to hold on to the present. That was all that Yang's sudden, frustrating sense of affection needed, anyway. The current moment, of the way Neo looked, spoke, felt, all of it was what her emotions fed upon, and it cared little any more for what she'd already done.

Neo was a human being, and Yang had grown up being taught to help and protect those who needed it, and didn't Neo need it? Even in her weakness, Neo still radiated strength, and Yang was hopelessly enamoured by that concept, a girl powerful even when brought to her knees by a loathsome, corrupting sickness.

"How's it taste?" Neo asked, out of the blue, thankfully breaking the silence.

"Tastes good." Yang said , words muffled by the food still in her mouth. "You're a good cook." Her compliment prompted an appreciative smile from Neo, but no words. After that, they continued to eat in silence once again, leaving Yang to her thoughts.

Their eyes frequently met, and each time they did, Yang's heart leapt a little, as if Neo's eyes were enough to infuse it with a charged jump. Every glance, even though they were used to sharing them by now, lasted longer and longer, and the final one, as they finished, didn't end. Their eyes remained locked even as Neo stood and strolled over to Yang.

"Will you really be here for me?" Neo asked, with low and quiet words. "Even with all I've done, and all I could still do, with this sickness?"

"I wouldn't lie about that." Yang answered. "God knows why it's turned out this way, but yes...I'm here for you now, after all's said and done. You've convinced me for good that you've turned over a new leaf. I think I started to believe you a while ago, to be honest, or else I wouldn't have gotten so close."

"You're not obligated to. I wouldn't blame you for leaving. The entire point was that I was meant to leave everything for good. I was punishing myself, remember."

"Maybe, but what you've come down with, that's not fair. Nobody deserves that. I don't know what's going to happen to you, but leaving you alone isn't a good idea, I think. Whether you get better or worse, you need somebody with you. I'll be with you."

"Yang...I have no words..." Neo said, as she laid her hands on Yang's shoulders, coming in close to her. She had another way of expressing herself in lieu of words, evidently, as she leaned in, and laid a delicate kiss upon Yang's lips.

With the kiss came the feeling of warmth rushing to her cheeks, and Yang could do nothing else than return it, her eyes falling shut as their lips pressed together for what was in reality the briefest of moments, but to her perception, many long minutes.

When Neo pulled away, Yang knew that Neo had just solidified her promise to stay with her. It was almost sly, but really, it just felt sweet.


	8. Chapter 8

The next month flew by. Yang took increasing amounts of time to see Neo. Things worked out in the sense that until Neo found a replacement weapon, Yang was the one killing the local grimm, and at the same time, that filled her daily work quote, which meant she was able to spend work hours in Neo's vicinity, who could still fight quite well, even with makeshift weapons. In Neo's hands, even kitchens knives were potent weapons.

"Another successful hunt!" Yang declared, wiping off blood from her gauntlets. Together, Neo and Yang were treading ground on their way back to her small dwelling. The location had become increasingly familiar, and Yang had even left her own marks on the home.

"You're getting better." Neo commended Yang. "You obviously haven't let your past successes stop you from learning. In a life like this, you need to keep improving if you want to hold on to it."

"Well, yeah, I do need to keep learning when I'm fighting in the place where the biggest grimm come to battle it out. I need to keep tabs on this place. It'd make a good training ground for some hunters who wanna take it to the next level."

Neo had little to say in response, she didn't find it necessary to remind Yang to keep her home hidden. Aside from that, a distant rocky, scraping sound caught her attention, and she kept quiet to enable herself to stay alert.

"Hear that?" She murmured.

"Sure did." Yang answered, after a few moments of additional listening. "It's a grimm, isn't it?"

"Mhmm. I can feel it. My blood feels really hot when they get near. I think it's my condition. I almost feel...attuned to them, having their essence in me. They never catch me off guard this way. Get ready, it feels like a big one."

And indeed it was. A dark silhouette emerged over the head of a slope, crowned in boulders and stone. It rose quickly and made its presence known – much like many of the grimm here, it was very unique and seemed to look unlike anything Yang had seen before. The variety of species here was impressive, and she wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

"Yikes." Yang said, as she saw the face of the thing that came into view. "This one's a bad boy."

This was one of the few grimm that appeared fully bipedal – while ursa and beowolves could stand on their hind feet with ease, they still used their front legs to run more efficiently, whereas this one had a spine and body composition that was supported entirely on two thick, stumpy legs. It almost looked like some sort of demon. It was laden with bulging muscles that were thick enough to cause the creature's fur to recede, leaving jet black leathery skin exposed. The arms almost reached down to its knees, and likewise, they were just as thick as the rest of its body. It almost looked like they were two charred tree trunks, rather than actual arms.

The most frightening aspect, however, was the face. All grimm had that signature white plate that covered their faces, or snouts, or whatever they happened to have there, but this one almost looked like a skull. The mask-like plate bared ferocious pale teeth, while two large round sockets housed a pair of glaring red eyes. The commonplace red markings that accompanied the white bone networked and webbed along it, but continued to spill onto the black flesh that it rested against.

After the grimm and the two young women crossed gazes, it let out a mighty bellow that the girls could feel vibrate in the ground and their very own bodies. It began to charge them, the stumpy legs carrying it along the ground at a surprising speed.

"There's no way we can fight this thing head-on!" Neo had to yell over the constant roaring of the grimm, as she backed away. "Divert its attention and get in hits when it loses focus on you!" With that, Neo darted off to one side.

"Gotcha!" Yang called back, before rushing off in the opposite direction. While grimm always seemed attracted to Yang's bright colours, this one went for Neo instead.

Before Neo had the chance to even get far out of reach, the grimm threw a frightful haymaker in her direction – she avoided it by only a foot, and was sent tumbling by the tremor the blow left, powerful enough to send dirt and stone alike hurtling into the air.

Yang took her chance and closed in from behind, arming her gauntlets as she got near, and landed a pair of punches of her own to the back of the grimms legs, firing off rounds at the time. She smelled singed flesh in the brief moment the grimm took to turn around, before it retaliated with a wild swing of one arm. She ducked just in time, but she could feel the air itself knocked aside in the arm's wake.

It turned all the way around, ready to smash Yang into the ground, before Neo appeared, flashing atop its head. Immediately it reacted by reaching up, swatting at the air to get her off, but she'd already disappeared again, and Yang jumped through the opening once again, charging forward and landing a clean blow upon its stomach. She had no time to get away though, from the abrupt swings of both arms as they slammed back down in retaliation. She was forced to the ground, and then the grimm followed up by lashing out with one burly foot, kicking her across the ground with little effort.

With a triumphant roar, it looked around for Neo, who was apparently absent. It turned its gaze back upon Yang, who had managed to pull herself back to her feet. Her clothes were torn and a bruise had been left upon her face – and by the way she walked, it looked like there were more beneath, out of sight. All those years ago, she could take a head-on blow from a Paladin, but these were two consecutive explosions in the form of white, armoured fists and a kick from a tree trunk. The first had severely dented her aura, and the kick and smashed it away for good.

She struggled to stand up – one's aura provided a constant sense of comfort and protection, and she almost felt naked without it. It was chilling, frightening, especially with something so powerful standing before her. One punch would be enough to break bones.

Her hair had already begun to flicker and glow however, and as the beast began to approach her once again, it ignited with enough energy to blast away dirt and loose shrubbery from the ground around her.

"Yang, I'm telling you!" Neo's voice intruded upon her battle trance in just the nick of time, approaching from the side. "Don't fight this like you usually do! That thing was practically born to beat you. We need to leave and live to fight another day!"

"NO!" Yang roared. Her semblance had already kicked in. "I am a huntress, I was born for this! I will never back down!"

Neo huffed, blowing up her cheeks as she found herself bubbling up with anger and frustration, and a whole lot of fear. "Listen to me, you idiot!" Yang's head didn't turn, either way, and she carried on forward, hair blazing like the sun. "Your aura is gone! I can't...I can't take you into a hospital if you get seriously injured..." Her resolve teetered off while Yang's seemed to grow increasingly bold by the moment, even though her aura was wobbling around her, uselessly.

Yang broke into a charge towards the grimm, which likewise, ran at her as well. Neo watched in horror, no matter how hard Yang could hit it, that thing could crush her in one go, and if she didn't take it down immediately, then it was all over.

Soon enough, Yang and the grimm came to blows – the grimm of course made the first swing, with its much larger arms, but with its height, had to lean forward, turning its punch into more of a scooping motion. Yang used her strong legs to launch herself over the arm, rolling across the ground as she landed, towards its legs. The grimm moved to kick her again, but she kept her momentum going and she ducked between its legs, taking advantage of the space left by a recoiling leg. By the time it kicked forward she was far behind it, and she was able to move back in, and land a powerful punch to its backside – the blow was heavy enough that it brought the grimm to its knees.

Neo's hope began to rise when Yang slammed another fist against its muscular frame, forcing it to fall forwards – was her semblance really so incredible that she could dominate something so powerful, with that much ease? Was this why she'd become a living legend in Vale?

Yang climbed atop the grimm, and walked across its back in confidence, while radiating a blazing, brilliant amount of light and heat from her hair. She looked down at her fallen foe with contempt, and she raised a foot, to slam it down on its head – but she was interrupted, as the beast pushed itself up from the ground with its mighty arms. With one leg in the air, she was forced to kick away instantly, or else she'd risk being knocked to her feet.

In an unbelievably fast motion, it spun around and swung for her – apparently Yang's instincts decided it was too late to dodge, and she retaliated in kind. Neo wanted to turn away in terror, but she needed to see, needed to know what would become of Yang.

Their fists slammed together in one violent encounter, and an explosion of force blew out between them. Yang seemed to crumple for a moment, but something seemed to be holding her together, perhaps one last stockpile of strength, whereas the grimm's arms twisted back upon themselves, and it recoiled in agony, letting out an ear-piercing wail as it pulled away. Its arms seemed to lose all sense of structure and support, and came back soft and dangling. Knowing what little else it could do, the grimm turned heel and stumbled away as fast it could – one of the most fearsome beings she'd encountered yet had been turned away by Yang Xiao long.

Neo rushed over to her to worry and fret over her, as fast as she could. "Yang! How did you survive that!? Are you alright?" As she closed in, she was offered the chance to survey the damage. She found the blonde covered in bruises all over, while at the same time, some parts of her body seemed to be perfectly unscathed.

Yang slumped forward, and Neo slipped beneath her, catching her and supporting her weight. "Heh." She coughed, through heavy breathing. "Fighting like I do, you figure out how to drag your aura back into a working state, eheh. Kinda needs to be done. I don't think I cut it this time, though."

"Oh my god, you're still in one piece, at least. You're so stupid, Yang." Neo replied, bitter and frustrated. "You're determined to get yourself killed, aren't you?" She wrapped her arms around Yang, and buried her face in her neck. "You're the only person I've got left in this world, and you're doing things like this, doing your best to leave it...what's wrong with you?" Her voice wavered, as she struggled to keep herself together.

"I don't know, Neo. No idea." Yang replied. Her voice was blunt, with barely a hint of the emotion Neo was displaying. Then again, her voice was also strained, as she could barely speak or keep herself on her feet. "But you can tell me off when we get home, right? We've got a walk ahead of us...so let's start now, huh?"

Neo found herself tensing up even more at Yang's attitude, but eventually she nodded, after pulling her face away from her shoulder. "You're right...let's get you back and see what your bravado has cost you."

The trip back was difficult – these hills were not made for travelers who couldn't bear their own weight, and Neo stumbled constantly as she struggled to haul Yang over, who had seemingly lost most of her ability to control her own movements. She shifted and lurched in every direction as she was dragged along by Neo, and more than once she fell down, prompting another surge of worry and stress in her.

Eventually they found their way back to Neo's tiny home. She trudged Yang through her blossoming garden, and pulled her inside, towards her equally small, constrained room. She dropped Yang atop her bed, and then knelt beside her, her eyes damp and her hands shaking. "You fool. You idiot, you stupid suicidal worthless good-for-nothing!"

"Easy there." Yang said, softly. "I was beginning to think you weren't happy that I'm still alive."

"I am happy! I'm so, so glad, yet...you almost got yourself killed! I almost lost you, all because you had to fight that thing, because you're a big dumb huntress! I don't care what you are! I just care about you being ALIVE."

"I couldn't just let that thing roam the hillside." Yang replied. "What if that thing came for us here? You'd lose the only place you have to live."

"I didn't mean we'd just ignore it, stupid. We'd just retreat and come back at it with a better plan. Sometimes the answer isn't just to throw yourself at a wall until something collapses."

Yang was silent. She'd been looking up at Neo, but now she turned her head away in thought, as her chest rose and fell at an awkward pace. Neo eventually broke the silence. "I need you in my life, Yang. I've been alone for so long. And I know, it's my fault, and it was my punishment. My penance for doing what I did. But...I'm not entirely inhuman, I can't do it. I can't live alone forever. I'm sick and it was only getting worse. And then you showed up, Yang. And ever since, I feel...I feel alive again. And as stupid as that sounds, it's true. I've not been as physically ill as I was before you arrived, and you've been killing them for me."

"Well, yeah...the blood, and stuff...it's all making you worse, isn't it?"

"Yes! But I deserve it! I deserve to get sick, I deserve to have nobody, I deserve to..."

Yang lifted a hand and cupped her cheek, and held her firm. "Don't you say it. Don't you dare. You're not a monster. You were able to see what you did was wrong. You felt bad about it, you regretted it and made a change."

"But...I've seen you put criminals away. You've got some dangerous people imprisoned, and yet I don't think you really ever considered their repentance or regrets. Once they were gone, you couldn't care less. Why am I any different?"

"Why are you different? Because you've had the opportunity to do bad things. You escaped and you could easily slip back into society and nobody would recognize you. I know it's way too idealistic, but if prison can reform somebody, then everyone's happy, right? But you've kinda just...skipped that whole process by yourself."

"No." Neo shook her head. "It is way too idealistic. And I don't believe you. Tell me why, really."

They held glances, seeing which one of them would crack first. Neo refused to have her question ignored, and eventually Yang gave in.

"Because...Because I'm just a dumb person who gives in to her feelings? Heh, even my first feelings were still just me being super angry at you. God, I'm...I'm really so fucking stupid, aren't I? I mean, you're...really cute, you know. And maybe that even swayed my decision too. You looked so miserable and lonely, and I was part of the reason for that, I dunno. But the thing is...so was I. After all that fuss through my younger years, I haven't felt anything like that in a long time. The thrill seeker in me never died, but the thrills around me did. Beacon became one of the safest places in the world, and I even had the chance to leave and go find somewhere dangerous, but I thought things would be the same. I thought everything would be hectic."

"You could have left at any time. You're a hero. You could do what you want, right?"

"Heh, you're right, I guess. But the thing was...I stopped myself. I got attached to what I had – my team, my sister, the little family I'd made for myself. 'Course...you were something new, something different. New and different kinda screams at me, y'know? How could I resist, especially when you also look the way you do?"

Neo sighed, and slumped against Yang, resting her forehead against hers. "I can't believe it. All this because you liked the way I look. I don't even look as good as I used to. I'm pale and I look like an old woman. This is so ridiculous, yet...I'm grateful, Yang. You've kept me from giving in entirely to this sickness. You're doing me a world of good, even if I don't deserve it..."

Yang chuckled, while their faces seemed to slip as close together as they could reasonably get. "I realized thinking about the world in a logical fair way like that, with what does and doesn't deserve what, it just drives you crazy. The world doesn't make sense. People don't make sense. The way I've always felt never made sense. But...might as well make the best of what we know is real, right?"

"Well..." Neo started, with a sigh. "What I think is real right now...is that I might love you, Yang."

"Might? Don't be scared." Yang lifted a sore, battered arm up, and wrapped it around Neo's neck. "Maybe I can...reassure you of that."

With that, she held Neo in as she pressed her lips to hers, sealing them together in a physical declaration of her requited love. She made it last as long as she could, pouring her warmth into her through her lips, before eventually, the parted.

Neo remained close against her once the kiss was over, trying to keep all the warmth between them. "It...did reassure me, Yang. I...do love you. You're everything to me, right now. I don't know how you ended up in that situation, but it's true. And now, I can't bear to lose you. So don't do that again. Don't risk it all for no reason."

Yang cracked a soft, gentle smile, and nodded. "I'm sorry. I won't do it again. 'Cause I love you too." Her heart felt like it skipped a beat as she made her confession. "You're the first person I've felt this way for ever since my days in Beacon."


End file.
